ASELSAN


ASELSAN A.Ş., is a Turkish defense corporation headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. Its main operating area is research, development and manufacture of advanced military products for air, land and maritime forces. The company is one of the major contractors of Turkish Armed Forces. Aselsan was ranked by Defense News magazine as 52nd largest defense company in terms of revenue. Turkish Army Foundation is the founder and major stockholder.

History

Aselsan was founded by the Turkish Army Foundation in 1975. The first CEO of ASELSAN was M. Hacim Kamoy.
In early 1979 following an investment and infrastructure establishment period, ASELSAN started its production, at Macunköy facilities in Ankara. Since then, ASELSAN has expanded its product and customer portfolio, mostly based on indigenous research and development, locally trained personnel, and in cooperation with other Turkish research institutions and universities.

Organization

ASELSAN designs, develops and manufactures modern electronic systems for military and industrial customers in Turkey and abroad. The company headquarters is located at Macunköy facilities in Ankara, Turkey. According to the field of activities, ASELSAN has been organized in five business sectors:

Info

The Communication and Information Technologies Business Sector, Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems Business Sector, Defense Systems Technologies Business Sector and Transportation, Security, Energy and Automation Systems Business Sector have high-technology and automated infrastructure in engineering and production at Macunköy facilities. Electronic production includes surface mount technology, multilayer and flexible printed circuit boards, mechanical and mould productions, system integration and test fields. While Communication and Information Technologies Business Sector's main product spectrum covers military and professional communications systems, Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems Business Sector's main operations are focused on radar, electronic warfare and Defense Systems Technologies Business Sector's main operations are focused on command-control systems. Microelectronics, Guidance and Electro-Optics Business Sector manufactures hybrid microelectronic circuits, night vision devices, thermal cameras, laser ranger/designators and inertial navigation systems at Akyurt facilities.
In all business sectors, methodologies complying with military standards and ISO-9001 are applied using computer aided design, computer aided engineering and computer aided manufacturing technologies.
ASELSAN is a member of TÜMAKÜDER and IPC.

Facilities

;Radar and Electronic Warfare Technology Center
ASELSAN opened its new facility in Gölbaşı district of Ankara on 16 March 2015. Built in three years to a cost of US$157 million, the site serves for the production of radar and electronic warfare equipment required by the Turkish Armed Forces, space and unmanned platforms. The facility covers an area of on a land of. A total of 776 engineers, 261 technical personnel and more than 200 support personnel are employed in the center.
The technology center serves for the design, research and development, production, test and logistic support of mainly long-range tracking air defense radars and fighter aircraft radars but also of diverse radars and electronic warfare systems as well as antennas, microwave power modules and software.

Suicides and unexpected deaths

Between 2006 and 2009, four suspicious deaths occurred, of young engineers who were working at Aselsan on highly strategic encryption and decryption projects. The cases were initially declared as suicides. Three of the four cases were relaunched in 2011 to investigate a possible link to Ergenekon.
On 7 August 2006, Hüseyin Başbilen, a 31-year-old mechanical engineer working for ten years at Aselsan as a production engineer, was found dead in his car at Pursaklar, Ankara. His left wrist and throat were cut, his head was under the glove compartment on the passenger's side and his feet were up on the driver's seat. In 2009, a court ruled that it was suicide. In 2011, the case was reopened as part of the "Ergenekon" investigation.
On 16 January 2007, 30-year-old Halim Ünsem Ünal was found dead, shot by a handgun, in his car at Gölbaşı, Ankara. The METU-graduate electrical engineer was working for three years for ASELSAN.
On 26 January 2007, another electrical engineer, Evrim Yançeken, age 26, fell from the balcony of his sixth-floor apartment at Batıkent, Ankara. In a note he left behind, he claimed the responsibility for his death.
The cases were closed as suicides with little or no investigation.
On 7 October 2007, Burhaneddin Volkan was dead from a gunshot wound in the sentry officer's room of the Military Band School, where he had been working. Following graduation Hacettepe University in 2005, he worked for two years at Aselsan's aviation command and control center as a software engineer. After his three colleagues committed suicide, he had experienced psychological problems and returned to his family.
On 25 January 2012, Hakan Öksüz died in a car accident, crashing into the traffic barrier at a major junction on the south beltway of Ankara. He was employed as an engineer at Aselsan's facility in Akyurt, Ankara.
On 15 January 2015, 28-year-old Erdem Uğur was found dead poisoned by LPG in his home at Çankaya, Ankara. Lying in bed, a hose was leading inside his mouth from a gas cylinder he had ordered two days before. A note with "Caution! Gas" was attached to the entrance of the apartment. He was a graduate of Dokuz Eylül University in İzmir and was working as a magnetic field expert for Aselsan since 14 February 2014.
After the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, Turkish government said the Gülen movement was responsible for the deaths.

International expansion

ASELSAN has associated companies in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. Besides, the company announced in October 2015 that they are planning to expand their South African business "by seeking partnerships to form a private company out of its local branch ASELSAN South Africa"